James Jakes News
James Jakes claims pole position at Pau
1 June 2008Pole position for the fifth season round of the Formula 3 Euro Series at the 2.76 kilometres long and challenging street circuit of Pau in the south of France has been taken by James Jakes (ART Grand Prix, 1:26.189 min). For today's race (start at 14.05 h), the Briton will be joined on the front row of the grid by Italian, Edoardo Mortara (Signature-Plus, 1:26.924 min). Points' leader, Mika Mäki (Mücke Motorsport, 1:26.618 min) and Nico Hülkenberg (ART Grand Prix, 1:27,172 min) are on the second row.
Because of the narrow track and the huge entry of 30 cars, qualifying took place in two groups for odd and even starting numbers respectively. The driver with the outright fastest lap time will be starting from pole position while the further drivers from his group will be lining up behind him on the pole position side. The fastest driver of the other group will be starting second with the other drivers from his group behind him.
The drivers with odd starting numbers were the first to go out on the track and they had the more damp conditions. Only in the final seconds, Mortara succeeded in beating Hülkenberg. Also towards the end, Richard Philippe (Carlin Motorsport, 1:28.314 min) moved up into fourth behind Christian Vietoris (Mücke Motorsport, 1:28.042 min).
Fastest driver in the second group was James Jakes from Mika Mäki. The two French drivers, Franck Mailleux (Signature-Plus, 1:27.233 min) and Yann Clairay (SG Formula, 1:27.461 min) also got themselves into a good position in third and fourth place respectively. With four minutes remaining, qualifying was briefly interrupted following an accident of Jules Bianchi (ART Grand Prix, 1:28.219 min).
James Jakes (ART Grand Prix): "In the last couple of weeks, we have been working very hard to improve. On my final lap, I put my head down and didn't make any mistakes, as I wanted to have pole no matter what. Fortunately, it worked out."
Edoardo Mortara (Signature-Plus): "Although conditions were difficult, qualifying was good for me. Being fastest in my group is good for me and for my team."
Mika Mäki (Mücke Motorsport): "Qualifying was very difficult as the track firstly was wet, then dried out and rain set in again at the end. After the red flag, I only had one fast lap and that had to be right, as otherwise I would have started from the back. Fortunately, it went as planned."
SOURCE : www.f3euroseries.com